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Welcome to the lighter side of flyfishing! We welcome your stories here!

August 6th, 2001

Chink in the Armor
By Ed Zern, from To Hell with Fishing

Every man has at least one chink in the armor of his honesty.
I once knew an Episcopal bishop who stole bird dogs. And
it's a rare stretch of water that doesn't look more inviting for a
couple of "No trespassing" signs.

A well-known professional flytier once told me that her father,
who lives beside a famous Scottish salmon river, had poached
the preserved water all his life, and was the terror of every
bailiff for miles around. On the old man's seventieth birthday,
the owners sent word that henceforth he had their permission
to fish thier water, and would no longer be bothered by the
wardens.

This action so demoralized the gaffer that he went into a profound
funk and refused to go near the river for several months. When
he appeared to be wasting away, his wife persuaded the owners
to withdraw their devastating offer of immunity, and the old man
took up his poaching when he had left off. The last I heard,
he was well in his eithties, and still good for a brace of salmon every
evening during the runs. ~ Ed Zern